David Pecker, the former tabloid publisher, was the only witness in Donald Trump's hush-money trial today.

Prosecutors completed their initial questioning of Pecker, and the defence team was just beginning their cross-examination when court ended for the day.

Here are the highlights:

• Pecker alleged that he handled two hush-money payments for Donald Trump in a "catch-and-kill" scheme
• Importantly, Pecker revealed how he learned and alerted Trump that Stormy Daniels was trying to sell an account of her alleged tryst with the former president for $120,000
• Prosecutors allege that Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-lawyer, paid off Daniels, and the former president fraudulently recorded the transactions in his company's books as legal expenses
• One specific case prosecutors asked about was the $150,000 payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, which quashed her story of an alleged affair with Trump

• Hush-money payments are not illegal, but prosecutors wanted to show a pattern of behaviour and illustrate how much it concerned the Trump campaign
• Pecker alleges that Trump thanked him for coordinating the hush-money payments in front of senior administration officials and in the White House
• The defence worked to show that Pecker had a mutually-beneficial relationship with Trump before the election
• Emil Bove, the defence attorney, began to grill Pecker in an effort to challenge his memory when court ended

Image source, Getty Images

Trump stopped to speak to the press on his way out of the courtroom. He called today's testimony "breathtaking" and "amazing", but ne seemed to avoid speaking about the trial.

The former president spoke about the pro-Palestinian protests on campuses across the country, comparing them to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville - a deadly far-right extremist event in 2017.

"Charlottesville was a little peanut," he said. "The hate wasn't the kind of hate that you have here."

Trump claimed that President Joe Biden "doesn't understand what's going on with our country", criticising his handling of the demonstrations.

He then pivoted to his Supreme Court hearing on presidential immunity: "Presidential immunity is imperative, or you practically won’t have a country anymore."

That hearing ended earlier today, and the justices appeared sceptical of the arguments made by both sides.

Image source, REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

The latest courtroom sketch from artist Jane Rosenberg shows prosecutor Joshua Steinglass (left) and Trump's lawyer Emil Bove (centre) gesture as they argue their cases in court while the former president (right) watches on.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

After a brief conference with lawyers, Justice Merchan is excusing jurors for the day.

He instructs them not to talk to anyone else about the case.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Emil Bove is grilling David Pecker about when exactly an alleged August 2015 meeting with Trump and Cohen occurred.

Bove is trying to show a discrepancy between Pecker's initial recollections of when the meeting took place, and what he shared on the witness stand today.

Pecker said that he knew the meeting took place in the first half of August 2015.

The defence attorney tries to push Pecker on a few other dates, but he takes his foot off the gas after a time.

He perhaps doesn't want the jury to think he's bullying an older man over his memory.

Defence aims to re-frame the Trump-Pecker relationshippublished at 21:06 British Summer Time 25 April

21:06 BST 25 April

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, EPA

After listening to a few minutes of cross-examination, it seems like Trump's attorney Emil Bove is trying to normalise the relationship that David Pecker had with Donald Trump.

Prosecutors have sought to paint the "agreement among friends" that Pecker reached with Trump and Cohen in August 2015 as the hatching of a plan to influence the election.

They have shaped the claim that the trio used the National Enquirer to boost Trump and suppress negative stories about him.

Bove, in his questioning, appears to be aiming to shift that perception. His questions attempt to frame the relationship as the normal course of doing business for a major tabloid publisher with celebrity connections.

Bove asks Pecker about similar arrangements with other male celebrities like movie star-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and golf star Tiger Woods.

In fact, Bove asks Pecker, you didn't even know the phrase "catch-and-kill" before prosecutors told it to you? Pecker says he did not.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Trump's defence lawyer Emil Bove is trying to show that Trump and the National Enquirer had a "mutually beneficial relationship" that stretched back years before the 2016 election.

The questioning emphasises that Pecker had a "beneficial" business relationship with Trump before Pecker had an August 2015 meeting with Trump and Cohen.

That was the meeting when the court heard they reached an agreement to use the National Enquirer to aid the Trump campaign.

Pecker confirms he ran stories about Trump because it was good for for business. He says that it was beneficial to both parties when the publication covered Trump during the run of his hit reality show The Apprentice.

We heard some of this in the prosecution's questioning before, but Bove may be trying to cast it in a different light.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass has one final question for David Pecker.

Do you have bad feelings or ill will toward the defendant?

On the contrary, Pecker responds, “I felt Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career”.

Even though they haven't spoken for a while because of the trial, Pecker says: "I still consider him a friend".

And now it's time for the cross examination by Trump's attorneys, to be led by Emil Bove.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

In 2018, David Pecker's AMI company entered into a “non-prosecution agreement” with federal prosecutors in New York.

This agreement covered all the payments we just heard about over three days of Pecker’s testimony.

Crucially, the document states that “expenditures by corporations, made for purposes of influencing an election and in coordination with or at the request of a candidate or campaign, are unlawful”.

Basically, the payouts Pecker facilitated, which he now testifies were part of an arrangement to help Trump's presidential campaign, ran afoul of campaign finance laws.

The document also states that AMI cooperated with an investigation by federal authorities in New York.

By going over these agreements with federal and Manhattan prosecutors, the District Attorney's office is giving the jury - and the court overall - a roadmap of how David Pecker wound up on the stand today.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

David Pecker testifies that at a certain point, Karen McDougal sued AMI to get her life rights back.

The suit was settled.

When she ultimately gave an interview to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2018, Trump was angry, Pecker tells the court.

He said he explained to Trump, who was the US president at the time, that he had amended her contract to let her speak to the media, and Trump got “aggravated”.

Trump couldn’t understand why Pecker had amended the contract.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Reuters

An important reminder as we get into the nitty-gritty of these hush-money payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels: hush-money payments are not illegal. And only Daniels' payment is part of the charges against Trump.

Trump has been charged over the way he allegedly covered up the single hush-money payment to Daniels.

Prosecutors say that Trump's then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, fronted the money to pay her and then they claim Trump fraudulently recorded the reimbursements to Cohen as legal expenses.

Prosecutors argue Trump did this to interfere with the outcome of the 2016 election by stopping the public from hearing a story that could damage his campaign.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts, and said that Stormy Daniels was paid for her silence so as not to embarrass his family.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

David Pecker is back at the stand and the jury has been seated, focusing on the tabloid publisher as he testifies.

Pecker is discussing a White House dinner that he says Trump threw for him as a "thank you".

Pecker says during a walk with Trump on the White House grounds, Trump asked: "How is Karen [McDougal] doing?"

Court has reconvened, here's what you have missed if you're just tuning in.

The court focused on witness David Pecker, the former publisher of tabloids like The National Enquirer. He alleges that he handled two hush-money payments for Donald Trump in a "catch-and-kill" scheme.

Importantly, he revealed for the first time how he learned that Stormy Daniels was trying to sell her account of an alleged tryst with Trump for $120,000.

Pecker said he told Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-lawyer, to handle it himself.

The former tabloid publisher said he had grown concerned about possible campaign finance and election-based legal issues from his previous efforts to quash stories that could harm Trump.

One specific case mentioned was a catch-and-kill payment of $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of an alleged affair with Trump.

Hush-money payments are not illegal, but the prosecution is trying to demonstrate a pattern of behaviour to help prove their case.

They allege Trump fraudulently recorded the transaction in his company’s books as legal expenses - when in fact they claim he was paying Cohen back for the hush-money payments.

The prosecution has told the jury this was "election fraud, pure and simple".

Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Image source, REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

During the lunch break we received a new court sketch.

It pictures Donald Trump watching as David Pecker testifies. A screen above Pecker shows Trump and former Playboy model Karen McDougal

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Donald Trump has just walked slowly back into the courtroom with his attorneys trailing behind him.

We'll pick up where we left off with Pecker's testimony.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Though the material of Donald Trump's hush-money case might seem salacious, a polling expert tells BBC News that he doubts it will do much to affect the views of the voting public about the 2024 presidential election.

Sean J Westwood, a pollster and politics professor at Dartmouth University, says that "Americans either think this trial is a political vendetta or long-due justice".

Voters who have made up their minds about the presidential election are the ones who are likely watching, he notes, and those who haven't probably aren't tuning in.

"Undecided voters who are struggling to buy groceries or pay rent are just not watching the trial. It is easy to get stuck in the play-by-play of the trial, but it isn't clear that average Americans care."

Image source, EPA

Since we're on break, let's check on Trump's other case on presidential immunity that was just heard by the US Supreme Court.

While the court's findings wouldn't apply to this case - the alleged hush money crimes occurred before Trump entered the White House - his legal defence team is arguing that the former president should be shielded from prosecution for alleged criminal acts while in office.

The arguments have wrapped up, but the justices appear sceptical of both sides.

They do not seem to be buying the defence's argument that the president is owed blanket immunity while in office. But they also don't seem swayed by prosecutors' claims that a president is open to criminal prosecution, even for clearly official actions.

The justices could be headed for a middle-ground decision.

You can follow the BBC’s continued live coverage of the Supreme Court here.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, EPA

Pecker made regular mention of "the boss" during his testimony on Thursday, providing a mob movie quality to the whole affair.

Who is this alleged "boss" - the man Pecker and ex-lawyer Michael Cohen worked so hard for - at the centre of several alleged hush-money payouts and four hours of testimony?

It's the man at the defence table: Donald Trump, the former president.

Pecker has regularly used "the boss" title in place of Trump's name while testifying, and it has not placed the former president in a flattering light.

Pecker has alleged the following of "the boss":

• "The boss" is the one who had Pecker pay $150,000 to a Playboy model over a secret affair
• "The boss" would definitely pay Pecker back, though he never did
• "The boss" would be pleased if Pecker could stop Stormy Daniels' claims from becoming public
• "The boss" would be angry if Pecker didn't do more to stop allegations of the affair from coming to light

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from court

Image source, Getty Images

Just a bit before court took a lunch break, David Pecker detailed how he had a meeting with Trump in Trump Tower.

This meeting came just after the 2016 election - Trump, the former New York real estate mogul, was now the president-elect.

A cast of notable future White House officials were there discussing a shooting with Trump, Pecker said.

At some point, the tabloid publisher was taken aside to Trump's office.

“I wanted to thank you for handling the McDougal situation," Trump said, according to Pecker.

Pecker added that the president-elect also thanked him for handling the "doorman situation".

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Before the lunch break, we heard testimony from Pecker that could be useful for prosecutors down the line.

Joshua Steinglass pressed Pecker on why Trump was so keen to have the McDougal story and other negative articles killed.

“The concern was the campaign,” Pecker said, adding that Trump did not mention worries about his family hearing the allegations.

In order to prove Trump committed election interference, prosecutors will have to show that it was Trump’s intent to cover up the hush-money payments for the purposes of his campaign, and not to shield his family from the alleged affair.